Nickel rallies

AFP

By our correspondents
March 06, 2015
London
Nickel rebounded, breaking a string of four straight losing sessions, after reports of closures of nickel operations in China and despite a surge in inventories.
The entire London Metal Exchange complex experienced a bounce on data showing a lift in global business activity and as some bearish investors were forced to buy back positions.
Nickel was volatile in the European morning, sinking close to its lowest levels in 14 months after LME inventories MNISTX-TOTAL surged to a fresh record of 431,274 tonnes, a rise of over 50 percent since last June. But three-month LME nickel reversed course in later trade and ended up 2 percent at $13,950 a tonne.
Analysts at Macquarie Bank said nickel demand in China should get a boost from a government order to close some nickel pig iron (NPI) factories to curb pollution, citing the China research house Antaike.
“This will worsen the supply situation for nickel and accelerate a deficit in nickel,” Macquarie said in a note.